Bill > S1045

This bill revises the "Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act" to provide greater public access to meetings of public bodies and information about those meetings. The key provisions of the bill include: - Clarifying and expanding the public's right to receive notice, attend, and in some cases be heard at meetings of public bodies, as well as access meeting minutes and recordings. - Extending the scope of the act to apply to subcommittees and certain quasi-governmental entities. - Addressing issues related to communications among members, recording of meetings, posting of information online, use of closed sessions, and penalties for violations. - Requiring public bodies to prepare comprehensive meeting minutes and make audio/video recordings of public meetings available to the public. - Establishing additional requirements for public bodies to post meeting information, agendas, minutes, and other records on their websites or provide them to the Secretary of State for posting online. - Allowing members of the public to bring legal action to challenge violations of the act and recover attorney's fees if successful.

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